18 January 2005

The LDU continued its holiday tradition as debaters returned to Huber House after Christmas to engage in extensive preparation for a swing of tournaments in early January. This time the squad was bound, as last year, for two tournaments in Texas, at the University of North Texas and at the University of Texas at Dallas. The teams were a mix and match affair of people who were willing to give up extensive portions of their holiday for debate. They included the teams of Nick Landsman-Roos and Leslie Keller, Emily Sanders and Brady Fletcher, Jason Hitchcock and Julia Benjamin, along with Shane Clark and Chase Whiting. They are a very young group, with only Nick being of varsity status, only Jason and Emily having junior varsity status, and the rest are enthusiastic novices.
The preparation period was remarkable. Largely handled by Helen and Justin Morgan Parmett, the prep week was characterized by high levels of debate commitment and productivity. Starting and 9 AM and supposedly going until 5 PM each day, almost all of the debaters stayed far later and many until the early hours of the morning. Helen and Justin indicated that this was the hardest working swing prep period in their memory, which is fairly long. LDU regulars Jillian Marty (now on a PhD fellowship at the University of Alabama) and Gordie Miller (now coaching at the University of Rochester) also dropped in. Jillian led speaking drills and judged practice debates.
On January 3 bright and early the crew set off for Texas. A 5:30 AM flight meant early rising. Everyone was at Huber House on time and ready to go. The service quality of USAirways almost led the group to being late, but the connections were made. The first six people arrived in Dallas on time and our new best friend, David Register of North texas, was there to meet the group. He brought everyone out to Denton (about 30 miles from Dallas) and we moved into the Radisson Denton, a hotel the likes of which the LDU very rarely gets to visit. This time, however, the rates were only $65 per room and we got one room free. As coach Snider was tabbing both tournaments the hospitality was even higher than normal. In return for tabbing the tournaments, both tournaments waived fees and helped cover judging, and North Texas threw in a free hotel room and David Register and a 15-passenger van to haul the LDU around for both tournaments. Snider estimated that this saved the LDU at least $1300 for the trip. Nick arrived later, as did Julia, and Register picked them up at the airport. Nick lost one tub of evidence, but it founds its way to him a few days later. Alumnae Sarah Snider, now the director of the DC Urban Debate League, came in to coach along with her father.
At North Texas three teams entered in varsity and one in junior varsity. Nick and Leslie were 3-3 and missed clearing on points, a remarkable achievement given that Leslie was only at her fourth debate tournament ever. Other varsity teams had tough sledding as Emily and Brady as well as Julia and Jason went 1-5. Shane and Chase were in JV and were 3-3, missing clearing by .5 speaker points. Shane Clark was named the #7 speaker in the jv division. The tournament had fantastic food and hospitality, and big fun parties in the evenings, although the LDU was its usual low key self when it came to nighttime parties.
Between tournament there was an off day and instead of playing or sightseeing, the crew went to work, took research assignments, and produced over 370 pages of new briefs. The move was on to Dallas for the next tournament.
In Dallas the crew moved into the hyper-swank Regency Crown Suites, where gigantic suite rooms were only $60 per night. The tournament started up with teams in some different divisions. Nick and Leslie stayed in varsity as did Emily and Brady, while Jason and Julia and Shane and Chase were in JV. The results were somewhat the same. Nick and Leslie lost their break round to finish 3-4, Emily and Brady improved to 2-5, while both JV teams finished at 2-4. Jason was sick during one round (Julia won debating by her self) but Jason rallied to finish the tournament.
The LDU folks watched the varsity elimination rounds on the last day, learning and getting evidence citations every step of the way. The flight back the next day was harrowing, as the shuttle arrived late at the airport and the crew had to fly two legs of the trip on stand-by (and succeeded) and arrived in Burlington on time.
The wins and losses could have been better, but the trip was judged to be a big success. Everyone had entered up into a higher division to gain experience and skills for the second semester, and all could see considerable growth and development during prep and the tournaments. It wasn't like those two years in Kansas City when the LDU won the squad sweepstakes two years in a row, but it was a great start for what should be a very successful second semester.
Special thanks to David Register, Brian Lain, Chris Burk, Scott Herndon and Sarah Snider for all of their help during our Texas adventure.

LDU CASH CRUNCH -- A POVERTY OF WEALTH

Because the LDU has its biggest team in years (a good thing) and because we are being forced to pay 38% benefits for part-time coaching, this looks like a tight budget year for the LDU. Plans are afoot to deal with this and include:
--Economy on trips, look for limited housing luxury and more crowding.
--Not all flying trips hoped for will be made.
--Office and related expenses will be examined and cut whenever possible. No equipment purchases this year.
Fundraising efforts will include:
--A new alumni outreach program spearheaded by Aaron Fishbone, Chuck Morton has already chipped in with ideas and enthusiasm. Look for this initiative very soon.
--An award for the most outstanding and supportive alum. Chuck Morton has offered to fly the winner of this award to Burlington to attend the banquet at the end of the year.
--Fundraising request from alumni, specifically asking them to buy one air ticket for a student to attend CEDA Nationals in San Francisco. Personal emails will be going out soon.
--Extra funding request to SGA.
--Offering LDU items (Flashpoint DVDs, etc.) to alumni in exchange for donations. Watch for these offers soon.

FLASHPOINT TELEVISION -- NOW WITH OVER 297 DIFFERENT PROGRAMS!
Watch Flashpoint from your computer screen whenever you want! You will need RealPlayer installed on your computer to become a part of our growing audience. Here are some recent programs now available at http://debate.uvm.edu/flashpoint.html. Watch on Burlington Channel 15 Wednesday 12:30 PM, Thursday 10 PM, Saturday 1 PM.
PROGRAM #300 IS COMING! The goal for taping is February 19, 2005.

SQUAD MEETS AT 6 PM EACH MONDAY NIGHT, 475 MAIN STREET, ALL WELCOME!

ALWAYS CALL IT HUBER HOUSE!